Ajay Kamalakaran

Over a month ago, Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, who left the company under mysterious circumstances, announced his new venture, Safe Superintelligence (SSI). The startup aims to tackle “the most important technical problem of our time” — risks posed by AI, a long-standing concern for Sutskever.…

 With several immigrant-focused events daily, this year’s New York Tech Week became the largest for international founders in the U.S.  Various members of the venture ecosystem, including VC funds and non-profits such as Impact Hub NYC, Unshackled Ventures and One Rise, aim to shape the narrative around immigrant entrepreneurship. …

On March 21, The Vertical announced the Immigrant Founders Report  at ‘What moves the needle,’ an inaugural event held at Mindspace Wynwood in Miami.  The Vertical’s 500-page Immigrant Founders Report will be the first in-depth examination of international talent in the U.S. venture ecosystem in over a decade.  The…

Like many other immigrant entrepreneurs, Archer Chiang, who is the founder of a corporate gifting platform, sought to solve his own problems. While studying as an international student in the U.S., he missed his family back in Taiwan and wanted to send gifts as a way of expressing his…

Since COVID-19 took indoor dining off the table, restaurants have resorted to takeout and delivery, often relying on third-party platforms like Uber Eats and GrubHub, which charge commissions from 15 to 30 percent per order. Nabeel Alamgir, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi-American based in New York, believes he has the solution…

“I have always been astonished by the incredible creativity of Indians,” Clubhouse co-founder Rohan Seth said in an interview. A Stanford graduate of Indian origin, Seth certainly embodied that spirit of ‘Indian creativity’ when he devised the world’s most popular live discussion app, where users can participate as both…

In 1967, a young Leslie Gunaratne found himself in Staten Island, now New York City’s smallest borough by population. The Sri Lankan accountant, seeking better opportunities, became one of the first people from his country to settle in New York. Six years later, he became a U.S. citizen and…

Having a stable and secure job, and rising up the corporate ladder is seen as the ideal career graph for women from the Indian subcontinent, but the vast potential in the U.S. is attracting an increasing number of female entrepreneurs. Many South Asian women have been inspired by role…

When Nitesh (name changed on request) immigrated to Michigan to work for a Fortune 500 company, he was unaware that caste prejudices would follow him from his hometown in southern India.  The 44-year-old ended up working as a tech specialist at a company employing many high-caste Indians. Nitesh is…

In the 1990s, a turbaned Indian man would have attracted stares in many parts of America, but a lot has changed since then. The Sikh trucking community is now a force to be reckoned with. In a relatively short time, they have managed to launch truck companies, trucking schools,…

At a time when large parts of South Asia were under the rule of Maharajas, performers of Carnatic music received patronage from aristocrats and temples alike. This genre is now struggling in the country where it was born. The bright spot for those passionate about Carnatic music has become…

Approximately 700,000 American citizens currently live in India, according to a White House fact sheet published in 2017. A disproportionately large percentage of these Americans are likely U.S. citizens of Indian origin. The “U.S.-returned,” as they’re called in local jargon, see India as a land of opportunity. Many have…